WBIG (AM)
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| City | Aurora, Illinois |
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| Broadcast area | Fox Valley |
| Branding | AM 1280 WBIG |
| Slogan | The Big One |
| Frequency | 1280 kHz |
| First air date | December 13, 1938 |
| Format | Talk/home shopping/sports |
| Power | 1,000 watts (daytime) 500 watts (nighttime) |
| Class | B |
| Facility ID | 5217 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°46′10.00″N 88°14′44.00″W / 41.7694444°N 88.2455556°W |
| Callsign meaning | The BIG One |
| Former callsigns | WMRO (1938-1989) WYSY (1989-1991) |
| Affiliations |
IRN-USA Radio News Fox Sports Radio |
| Owner | Big Broadcasting Company, Inc. |
| Sister stations | WRMN |
| Website | wbig1280.com |
WBIG (1280 AM; "The Big One") is a radio station broadcasting a mixed-format of talk, home shopping, and sports. Licensed to Aurora, Illinois, it serves the Fox Valley. The station is currently owned by Big Broadcasting Company, Inc.
The station signed on December 13, 1938 as WMRO, a 500-watt daytimer owned by Martin O'Brien and operating at 1250 kHz; the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement moved the station to 1280 in 1941. The station's programming was predominantly local, with a full service format being in place in the late 1940s. Among WMRO's on-air staff during this time was a young John Drury.
Vincent Cofey and Benjamin Oswalt purchased the station in 1957; three years later, the station was granted night authorization and implemented its current power levels. A separately-programmed FM sister station at 107.9 (now WLEY-FM) was added on September 1, 1964. Cofey and Oswalt sold WMRO to Dale Stevens in June 1969 to fund television station WLXT (channel 60; now occupied by WXFT-DT), which had signed on May 18, and to a lesser extent an upgrade to WMRO-FM, renamed WAUR. WLXT shut down July 17, 1970; two years later, Stevens purchased WAUR from Cofey and Oswalt.
Beasley Broadcast Group bought WMRO and WAUR in 1986. Beasley placed its focus on WAUR, which would eventually be relaunched as adult contemporary station WYSY-FM, and showed little interest in WMRO; this culminated in 1989 with the dismissal of the station's entire on-air staff and a callsign change to WYSY, reflecting its conversion to a simulcast of the FM station. WYSY-FM subsequently moved its studios from Aurora to Chicago; at that time, Beasley opted to completely shut down the Aurora facility, which also housed the AM station's transmitter, and with little fanfare signed the station off. The callsign was changed to the current WBIG in 1991; two years later, Big Broadcasting purchased the license from Beasley, and brought WBIG back on the air in November 1993.
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